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soltakss

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Blog Entries posted by soltakss

  1. soltakss
    The article for Birchbark Chronicles made its way across the Atlantic where Mark Galleotti is going to chop it up and put it through a blender to make it fit with his other articles, so that's one down.

    Merrie England is, after a host of rewrites and additions, almost ready to be published. I remember why I prefer to write things for a website rather than for other people - it's a lot, lot easier. Still, I have ideas for a couple of follow-ups for Merrie England and should have them ready for the end of the year, in one form or another.

    The Gloranthan Campaign is still going and seems to be back on track as the players have spawned new ideas and taken it into new directions, which is always good.

    I have had some ideas about a Sci fi setting, but it might not be very original. I need to work on the SciFi SRD to tidy things up and expand/improve on certain areas. Maybe I'll do something about a setting some time next year.

    My website is still stalled. I have lost a lot of interest in Glorantha, mainly because the new Glorantha is heading in a direction that I don't particularly like. For me, the future is with Alternate Earth and that's where I think I'll concentrate.

    I've been sent a contributor's copy of Trade Talk 17 for the Unicorn Quest, which also appeared in something else from the Chaos Society, so that's nice. Something for nothing is always good.

    Next year we have Continuum and the Eternal Con in Germany and hopefully I'll be able to go to both of those.

    All in all, I am feeling a lot more positive about things.

    See Ya

    Simon
  2. soltakss
    I spent yesterday looking at Mad Knight’s new range of Gloranthan figures and playtesting a set of Skirmish Rules to go with them. They are very impressive figures, harking back to the best of the Citadel figures from RuneQuest’s hey-day.

    We played using broos and trolls, as they were the painted ranges and swept through a Sun County village with devastating results. The sides seemed fairly evenly matched, with the trolls having more figures, half of which were trollkin. We ended up with one of the troll leaders ably supported by two Great Trolls fighting each of the broo leaders in hand-to-hand and killing both of them twice! Very satisfying, especially as I was playing the trolls .

    The rules worked well. They were fast, easy to use and very, very simple. We even had Gloranthan magic and Divine Intervention for Leaders, which worked very well indeed. Some areas need polishing slightly, which is why it was a playtest, but most of the rules worked well first time.

    Hopefully, Mad Knight will be able to run the scenario at Chimeraides at the end of October.
    In the meantime, they have a Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/madknight/ if you are interested in what they have done so far.
  3. soltakss
    Just at Marseilles airport, waiting for my long flight home after a very pleasant few days at Chimériades.

    I flew in on Friday morning, having set off at 2300 Thursday night to find that my mobile phone had no roaming set up - Thanks Virgin! Eventually I got my lift sorted out and got to Andrew's house where we looked at figures and I met Steve, the modeller. We talked for a while, took a last minute look at the rules, prepared a game board for the con and had a lovely meal. Eventually, we set off about 1630 and drove through the absolutely beautiful Provençal countryside. I was a bit disappointed to not see any Occitan signs, but apparently Provence is nowhere near as bi-lingual as, say, Catalonia.

    We took about an hour and a half to get there and the venue looked the part - a lovely French castle. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, as seems to be the case with all the 3 day cons that I go to. Accommodation was similar to Stahlek, with bunk beds in dorms, and as last arrival I got the top bunk with the longest flight of rungs I have ever seen, or at least it seemed that way to my poor old bones.

    Friday night was spent socialising and eating/drinking. I would have liked to have played a game,but there didn't seem to be any around and I was shattered. I went to bed at about 2200 and was woken at 0200, 0300 and 0400 by the SNORE MONSTERS - you know who you are!!! Eventually, I dug out my pair of ear plugs and got to sleep.

    Saturday, I got up at about 1000, thinking I had missed breakfast. After a shower I wandered down and they were still serving! The French are certainly civilised. After breakfast, i finished off my morokanth costume for the Prax at War game and headed off to the game. When I got there, I thought that nobody else had come in costume, so I felt an idiot. The hands lasted about half an hour until I took them off (no thumbs is really awkward) and the head about an hour as I couldn't see or hear properly. Had fun in the game, though, especially when I trumped the baboon's claim to have one of his victory conditions - his face was priceless. Afterwards, we socialised, drank, talked and ate, but no games seemed to be played. Just before I went to bed, someone asked if I had seen the Game Signup Board. "What Game Signup Board?", I asked! What an idiot.

    Sunday morning, I got up bright and early, about 0800, showered and rushed to breakfast as I wanted to help Andre set up his miniatures game. Breakfast wasn't open yet!!!! Then someone asked if I had forgotten it was Daylight Saving Time. Of course I hadn't as I had told my wife to change the clocks. Hadn't changed my phone, though. Idiot 3. Played the miniaturesw game and had a lot of fun, even though the prize was cruelly snatched from me by a Great Troll who should try out for the Sazdorf Trollball Team! Couldn't find any English speaking games and decided my French wasn't up to a French game, so socialised a bit unt6il Greg took pity on me and asked me to play in a game of Broos vs Ducks. As the ducks had been my adversary in the earlier game, I readily agreed and we had a very fun time until my giant rhino broo was duffed up by a combination of weaker lesser broos. Two of us ended with null points, Paolo declared victory with 5 points and the chap in the corner who hadn't fought anything counted his hoard of sheep and pigs and said 10 points! Socialised and chatted with various people, said about the SNORE MONSTER in out room and was told that there were 3 on Friday, but one had stopped. I had only heard 2 and had put on some snoring clips on Saturday night,so I wonder who the third was!!!

    Charlie's barbecue was tasty, but I had to queue for almost an hour for a second portion, which tired me out just enough to send me up to bed soon afterwards.

    Monday, got up at 0730, showered, went to breakfast and Phillippe had kindly organised me a lift to Aix railway station. Said my goodbyes and waited to go. Christophe Badista (I think) had offered me a lift and I got chatting (sort of) to him and another chap who had both been gaming until 3am the night before. He was the most enthusiastic gamer I had seen for years and reminded me how much roleplaying used to burn inside me in my younger days. It also made me feel so, so old. Anyway, we had a pleasant trip in the car for a couple of hours (I didn't realise it was so far) and eventually made it to Aix TGV after passing tghe same road 3 times. The other gamers helped me find a ticket for the Shuttle to the Airport and showed me where to go and I made it with hours to go.

    So, here I am, waiting for my flight in 3 and a half hours.

    Did I enjoy it? Yes.

    Was it the best/worst con I've been to? No.

    Would I go again? Maybe, if I could get a cheap flight.

    Worst thing about the con? The SNORE MONSTER (excluding myself, of course, as I didn't hear the 3rd one).

    Best thing about the con? The oh-so enthusiastic gamer. I never caught his name, but hearing him talk for, what, 3 hours really made my day.
  4. soltakss
    Hiya All

    I'm looking at what I want to do RPG-wise and I know I haven't time to do anywhere near as much as I'd like.

    Close to home, I have a RQ Campaign set in Third Age Pavis/Prax that is in danger of stalling unless I can find something to inspire me.

    I am working on an article for the Birchbark Chronicles for Mythic Russia that I haven't looked at for a couple of months.

    A long-term project is the mapping of Prax/The Holy Country/Dagori Inkarth for an extended game of Dragon Pass/Nomad Gods that is going nowhere.

    The RQ-SciFi SRD has reaced a point where it is just about complete but wants tidying up and smoothing out, but I haven't the will to look at it.

    Based on the RQ SciFi SRD, I wanted to produce a small PDF that could act as a setting for a RQ SciFi/Space Fantasy game, but I keep stalling when I try to look at the big picture. I have ideas about races and cultures, about the background of humanity and where it is going, but I am finding everything else really difficult.

    I've done some background work on a Medieval England RQ Setting called Merrie England and set during the reigns of Kings Henry II, Richard I and John I. I have a fair bit of background, rules to fit in and religions almost complete but it is just parts at the moment and fitting it together into a whole PDF is proving difficult.

    Some old friends are talking about resurrecting an old campaign as a PBEM or occasional meet and play compaign, but I don't have a lot of time to devote to this and it is even more to do.

    Add to that my website which has completely stalled and you can see that I have so much that I want to do but have so little that is likely to be completed in the near future.

    Ah well, I supose I'll be able to get siomething done sooner or later, but it is slow going at the moment. I feel as though I am swimming through treacle.

    See Ya

    Simon
  5. soltakss

    Profile
    Over the years, I have only used one avatar for soltakss for all my profiles on various sites.
    However, once I started publishing Jonstown Compendium titles, I have changed my profile picture to be one of the faces from the illustrations in the supplement.
    I am so glad that I could change it from the Spiderling picture from Holiday Dorastor: Spider Woods, as that picture always creeps me out when I look at it.
    My current picture is the Book Wyrm from Secrets of HeroQuesting.
    Well, I suppose it must be a Greater Book Wyrm, as Austin Conrad has published a lesser version in his Monster of the Month series.
    I am not sure how long the Book Wyrm will stay for, as I will probably change it when Holiday Dorastor: Seven Hills comes out.
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